A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a Columbus receivership has salvage rights to
treasure from the sunken SS Central America shipwreck, rebuffing an earlier salvage group that
claimed it was entitled to the treasure.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith ruled this week that Recovery Limited Partnership, now
run by court-appointed receiver Ira O. Kane, is the salvor-in-possession of the Central America
wreck.

The ship sank during an 1857 hurricane, and its wreck lies 160 miles off the coast of South
Carolina.

In March, Kane hired Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa to bring up the treasure, which
includes tons of gold bars, silver coins and artifacts believed to be worth millions of dollars.
The company has been working at the Central America site since then.

The wreck was discovered in the late 1980s by a crew headed by former Battelle scientist Tommy
Thompson of Columbus. Using $22 million from investors, mostly from central Ohio, Thompson’s group
brought up several tons of gold, silver and artifacts and sold the gold for more than $40 million
in the early 2000s. But the group never paid investors, which included The Dispatch Printing
Company, which publishes
The Dispatch and Dispatch.com.

The company joined lawsuits against Thompson and his companies, Recovery Limited and
Columbus-America Discovery Group, in Franklin County Common Pleas Court and in federal court in
Columbus.

Thompson became a fugitive in August 2012 when he didn’t appear as ordered in the federal case
against his companies.

Last year, Franklin County Judge Pat Sheeran appointed Kane to oversee Recovery Limited, and
salvage efforts resumed after 23 years.

Under a 1987 agreement between Recovery Limited and Columbus-America, Recovery Limited was the
legal owner of the Central America salvage and Columbus-America was the company’s agent.

The Thompson group argued in the Virginia court this spring that Columbus-America, not Recovery
Limited, had previously been named salvor-in-possession and should retain that authorization.

Smith ruled otherwise.

The Thompson group included former Thompson lawyer Richard T. Robol, former Thompson
photographer Milt T. Butterworth Jr., and Mike Lorz, the group’s spokesman.

Odyssey Marine announced in May that it had retrieved more than $1 million worth of gold bars
and coins in its first recovery at the Central America wreck. After that, documents detailing the
additional treasure recovered this spring were sealed by the court.

U.S. marshals continue their search for Thompson, whose last known address was a rented Florida
mansion.

Kane and Odyssey Marine declined to comment. Robol, Butterworth and Lorz could not be reached
for comment.